'Girls Gone Wild' ad disrupts religious program

Glitch caused by required test of the Emergency Alert System, says Comcast.

The Associated Press
updated 5:05 p.m. CT, Sat., April 11, 2009

PHILADELPHIA - A Philadelphia cable network's early morning broadcast of a Good Friday service at the Vatican abruptly changed to something wildly different — a 30-second "Girls Gone Wild" ad.

Comcast spokesman Jeff Alexander says the 2 a.m. Friday programming glitch was due to a required test of the Emergency Alert System. He says such tests are usually done in the overnight hours.

The test automatically tunes viewers to a preselected channel that would provide information in the event of an emergency. But during tests, the channel airs regular programming, which in this case included a paid advertisement for the racy videos.

Alexander says the problem affected the network's entire local area, but only one person called to complain.

(In my area, the "preselected station," which also participates in the test, broadcasts a "dead carrier" with only an audio announcement that the test is being conducted. The "test transmission" must appear on all channels. Philadelphia Comcast must lack the technology to do this, so they probably flunked the test - which is of more interest than the "bit of skin" that the one faithful believer may have seen at 02:00 in the morning.)

John